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Google has released their monthly Android Distribution Report for May and it shows that Android Nougat continues to grow.  The latest version of Android accounted for 7.1% of devices that hit the Google Play Store in the week ending May 2, 2017.  That is up 2.2% from the April report.  While it is still not ideal to have the latest-and-greatest version at sub-10%, Nougat has continued to grow steadily over the past several months.  This, of course, has been helped by the larger number of devices either getting updated to Nougat or new devices like the LG G6 and Samsung Galaxy S8 lineup shipping with it.

Interestingly, both Android Marshmallow and Lollipop remained steady to the April report.  Marshmallow had a 31.2% install base while Lollipop kept its 32% base.  Android KitKat continued to drop, losing 1.2% in this months report.  That version is down to 18.8% now while Jelly Bean and Ice Cream Sandwich both lost 1%.  Gingerbread continues to hold on and actually gained .1% this month.  Go figure.

The lineup of devices supported by LineageOS continues to grow with 15 new devices announced this week with support.  The custom ROM development team, formerly from CyanogenMod, has been busy added support for a wide range of devices, many of which are in their Nougat based 14.1 train.

This latest news shows how fast the platform continues to grow.  With well over 1.5 million installs now, it has quickly become one of the most popular custom ROMs available for Android devices.

The Google Wallpapers app for Android has been updated with several new wallpapers in most of the existing categories within the app.  The update, version 1.1.153125266 for those keeping score at home, adds wallpaper options in the Earth, Landscapes, Life, Textures, and Cityscapes sections of the app, giving you the option for more personalization of your devices.

Wallpapers is an app that is native to the Pixel lineup but shortly after the release of the phones, Google released the app (officially – it has been available as a side-load APK for months prior) for Android devices running 4.1 or higher.  It allows users to select a wallpaper for their Home page as well as the lock screen on their devices, both of which can be different wallpapers.

Today’s Deal is on one of the new phones in budget friendly phone OEMs, BLU.  The new BLU R1 Plus is the latest addition to the R1 lineup and is available from Amazon for $159.99.  The R1 Plus has a 5.5″ Full HD display and runs on the quad-cord MediaTek 6737 processor running at 1.3GHz.  This is coupled with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage.  That storage can be expanded an additional 64GB thanks to the MicroSD slot.  The R1 Plus is a dual SIM phone too for those that need to do a bit of international travel with it.  Powering all of this is an impressive 4000mAh battery which should keep you going all day.

Camera wise, the main camera is a 13MP shooter while the front facing 8MP selfie camera also has a front facing LED flash.

The phone is sold unlocked and works on GSM carriers like AT&T and T-Mobile.  For those on Verizon or Sprint, the phone does not support CDMA so this phone won’t work for you.